Observation of an unoccupied surface state on Cu(110) by inverse photoemission

Energy loss of photoelectrons by interaction with image charge

By measuring the photoelectron spectra of the Cu(001) and Cu(110) surfaces excited by tunable-laser photons of very low energy (4.50-4.95 eV), we have found that the photoelectron can lose energy through interaction with its image charge. This energy loss occurs just outside the solid surface and appears as a spike structure at the vacuum edge in the photoemission spectra. The requirement for observing this energy loss structure is the absence of unoccupied states at the vacuum level at the Gamma point to which zero kinetic energy electrons can return.